Military vehicles may be subjected to underbelly threats, such as those from mines, bombs, improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Floor assemblies in military vehicles may absorb energy to reduce the impact to occupants.
Conventionally, a common approach to blast mitigation is to raise the military vehicle further away from the ground. In certain known military vehicles guided by this principle, certain floor assemblies include under-floor energy absorbers. Under-floor energy absorbers are subject to higher accelerations and deformations. Additionally, under-floor energy absorbers consume space between a floor platform and a vehicle underbody that could be used for other purposes. Additionally, in certain known energy absorption systems, energy absorbers perform their duty through buckling, densification, and other modes that can lead to less predictable or less controllable deformation.
In certain energy absorption systems used in military vehicles, unitary or connected energy absorbers are used to absorb energy in multiple directions. However, because a blast event can lead to acceleration at different rates in different directions, such an energy absorber can be less effective than using multiple separate or partially separated energy absorbers for absorbing energy in separate directions. It is desirable to increase survivability where occupants in a vehicle are exposed to acceleration in a plurality of directions.
In certain known apparatuses for mounting energy absorption systems to vehicles, fixed mounts with high stiffness are used to secure such systems to a vehicle structure such as a wall of a hull. Hulls are the main frame or the main body of a vehicle such as a ship or a tank. Such fixed mounts, however, can lead to a higher moment contribution from the mount to the energy absorption system and less predictable behavior in blast events.
Improvements to military vehicles for mitigating blasts are always in need, as are improvements that may increase crew survivability. The disclosure herein may provide at least one improvement alone or in combination with other vehicle structures.